Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Co-presenting with Junhyun Park on "The Apparatus of Wartime Dōtoku: The Dialectic of In and Yō in Takada Shinji’s Thought" at the European Network of Japanese Philosophy conference at Akita International University (I'm sitting in front of Park). 000
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerMelissa Chan @melissakchan.bsky.social · 06/09/2026So good to meet Cheng Lei for the first time, and I'm grateful for the thought-provoking conversation she led at the Australian Institute of International Affairs Victoria's event for our graphic novel, YOU MUST TAKE PART IN REVOLUTION. Thank you for the Melbourne welcome! 0103
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Talking to a humanities doctoral student from a Tier 1 US university, and Heterodox Academy came up. I said I was a member and he said "great." He also said he can't join: such an association, if known, could harm his job application/TT prospects. 2nd time this week I heard something like this. 000
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 01/09/2026From the conclusion of Jiang's "Why China Needs Democracy" (PrincetonU Press, 2026, p.180) press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... 101
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerUnofficial Guardian (UK) Bot @guardian-uk-rss.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Why is 'vegan' suddenly being used as a slur? | Emma Beddingtontheguardian.comWhy is 'vegan' suddenly being used as a slur? | Emma BeddingtonUS republicans are tarnishing their plant-eating opponents at every opportunity. Yet vegans are perfectly suited to hold power – let me count the ways, writes Emma Beddington 044
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Joseph Yi on the negative effects for intellectual innovation when a society over-enforces conformity to narrow moral and nationalist values. The pile on against actress Ha Young over her great-grandfather's Japanese connections being a case in point. asiatimes.com/2026/08/s-ko... 000
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Looking forward to presenting at this symposium at Kyushu University, about themes of vegan/animal rights activist alienation and non-belonging in the novels of Isabel Colegate, J.M. Coetzee, and Han Kang - and the need for animal ethics to tackle those themes www.janlauwereyns.com/2026/08/poet...janlauwereyns.comPoetics as BioethicsVA+M+P@IR*E presents... Poetics as Bioethics Symposium 16-18 September 2026 Venue: JK Choi Cultural Center, Ito Campus, Kyushu University T... 073
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerMichael Turton @michaelturton.bsky.social · 16/08/2026Eventually PRC archaeology is going to become completely twisted in the service of the state. 1258
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 14/08/2026One of those moments where I should have re-read the record before posting: as many pointed out, Nicholas and Erika Christakis resigned from admin positions at Silliman Dorm; only Erika resigned from teaching jobs at Yale. At MFA, the kimono try-ons were stopped, not the exhibition. 110
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026And also moral panics over "cultural appropriation," coddled by academics, with non-trivial effects: Cancellation of a 2015 Japan-sponsored Boston MFA "try on a kimono" art exhibition; Nicholas and Erika Christakis's 2016 resignations from Yale following unhinged "Halloween costume" student protests 40225
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 16/07/2026"Cancelling" is a process as much as an outcome - in this case, social media posts/hate mail abusing, shaming, or threatening Tuvel, and colleagues writing an open letter attacking her academic integrity. She just didn't suffer the outcome: ostracism and retirement from academia. Hope this helps. 310
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerRyan Ho Kilpatrick 何松濤 @ryanhk.blue · 28/06/2026The University of Hong Kong's student union newspaper Undergrad (學苑) announced today it is ceasing operations after 74 years in print. "Our historical role has come to an end," the editorial board wrote on social media. 12515
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 17/06/2026My article from last week's Japan Times, "How Students almost got protesting Sohei Kamiya right" explores tentative/pro tanto reasons for why it might be acceptable to platform controversial speakers at universities, even if they have a reputation for misinformation (article URL in ALT) 1/ 110
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Some unfinished business for Taiwan's liberalization: protecting migrant workers from discrimination and union-busting 040
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 08/06/2026“freedom of inquiry incorporates the pursuit of truth and scholarly forbearance toward rigorous and critical engagement with diverse ideas, including those we consider malevolent and untrue” From my Japan Times article “How students almost got protesting Sohei Kamiya right” (url in alt) 010
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 06/06/2026Good article by Michael Breen suggesting the South Korea "Tank Day" Starbucks fiasco was less likely about kamikaze-level (ahem) scheming by far-right CEO's to "own the left," and more likely about institutional dumbness and over-reliance on AI-driven marketing www.koreatimes.co.kr/opinion/2026...koreatimes.co.krWas the Starbucks Korea 'Tank Day' fiasco caused by AI? - The Korea TimesWhen Starbucks Korea launched its “Tank Day” coffee promotion on May 18 — the day South Koreans commemorate the 1980 massacre of protestors in Gwan... 000
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 06/06/2026“I argue that constitutional democracy helps decentralize power, constrain the state, protect political freedoms, and promote genuine political competition. It offers the best available response to a defining normative crisis in contemporary China.” www.thewirechina.com/2026/05/31/y...thewirechina.comYes China Can - The Wire ChinaA country as vast and populous as China cannot be ruled as a liberal constitutional democracy, argue Chinese Communist party and government officials — and many others — who personally benefit from th... 010
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerMW Hyde @mwhyde.bsky.social · 05/06/2026The core of Australian progressivism in the 21st century seems to be radical denial of universal solidarity, except performative anti-US loci (led by Palestine, but oddly, rarely the West Bank). The Australian border is a strange membrane. It allows migrants in, but won't let human solidarity out. 052
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerLenore Beadsman @lenorebeadsman.bsky.social · 04/06/2026ricordiamo Tiananmen89 💔 @badiucao.bsky.social su Twitter 05116
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 04/06/2026Some news- the paperback edition of my edited book "Confucianism at War: 1931-1945" will soon be out at a less eye-watering price than the hardback, from Taylor & Francis www.routledge.com/Confucianism...routledge.comConfucianism at War: 1931–1945This is the first book-length study of wartime Confucianism in any language, providing new insights into key developments in Confucian thought and ideology in East Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. In stan... 000
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 02/06/2026I've studied war era "goyogakusha" and they're nothing like wonkish nat security scholars sitting in govt advisory panels today. An anti-intellectual self own for protesters to name and shame them like this. Smart JT article by Waka Ikeda. www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2...japantimes.co.jpGoyo gakusha: Welcome to Japan’s new cancel cultureGuilt by affiliation is not scholarship. It is the abandonment of scholarship. 000
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 02/05/2026An update from the Japanese support group for Yuan Keqin, a former Hokkaido University of Education professor arrested on trumped up spying charges during a visit home to North China in 2019, and imprisoned in 2024. Relieved that he has been released, but it's unclear if he can return to Japan. 110
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerShaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 29/03/2026Review of my edited book “Confucianism at War: 1931-1945” by Zhuoyao Li for “Dao” journal. One criticism is on point: I wish I had solicited more contributions about Japanese Sinologists and Confucians on gender, especially wrt China. They were quite neurotic about Chinese feminism. 111
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerWing Kuang @wingkuang.bsky.social · 30/04/2026New: Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner calls for an inquiry into transnational repression, following Guardian’s report of a Chinese student allegedly being jailed for six years for joining protests in Sydney: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...theguardian.comStudent’s alleged jailing in China over Australian pro-democracy protests sparks calls for inquiryHuman rights commissioner says student’s jailing highlights the ‘growing risks of transnational repression’ in Australia 062
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 28/04/2026I wish the Japanese center-left could offer a version of the argument Takaichi is making - without the burden of historical revisionist statements that weigh on and her political allies’ credibility in their E Asia foreign policy. We live in hope I guess. www.bbc.com/news/article...bbc.comJapan loosens arms export rules in break from post-WW2 pacifismThis clears the way for Japan to sell weapons to more than a dozen countries. 000
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 27/04/2026A dissembling AFR piece by James Curran that omits the elephant in the room in the current spate between Japan and the PRC: PM Takaichi's (reasonable) conviction that an invasion/naval blockade of Taiwan *could* also threaten Japan's sovereignty, thereby triggering its right of self-defense. 000
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerMW Hyde @mwhyde.bsky.social · 22/04/2026Can you imagine the uproar among vice chancellors if Australian universities were required to warn Chinese students that they are in danger of being monitored and mistreated by Beijing, let alone required to provide them with support? 152
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 22/04/2026Based on what I've learned from similar cases, this one is only known because the jailed student's family consented to make it known to foreign media. There are likely many other cases where families are too frightened to speak out. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...theguardian.comStudent allegedly jailed in China for six years after taking part in pro-democracy protests in AustraliaExclusive: The Australian government has been urged to take stronger action to protect overseas students from political repression 044
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 21/04/2026Sad to see a representative of an organization which promotes and funds Japan Studies research express partisan-brained, paranoid opinions about viewpoint diversity. As an East Asian studies researcher involved in a Heterodox group she has denounced, I think I should voice my dissent here /1 100
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 14/04/2026Something to look forward to, coming out with Princeton University Press this June: "Why China needs Democracy" 120
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 12/04/2026Heterodox East Asia webinar last week hosted by Joseph Yi at Hanyang University, ft me, Kevin Yam (Senior Fellow at GeorgetownU Center for Asian Law), and moderator Frances An, discussing academic freedom in Hong Kong/among Chinese abroad. www.youtube.com/watch?app=de... 010
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 08/04/2026Cheng quoted Sun's 1924 Kobe Pan-Asianism speech invoking the "Eastern" Confucian Kingly Way against the Hegemonic Way of the "West" ... and missed the irony in addressing this to a militarizing China which, like Imperial Japan, might just cloak its own hegemonic ambitions in Pan-Asianist verbiage. 050
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 29/03/2026Review of my edited book “Confucianism at War: 1931-1945” by Zhuoyao Li for “Dao” journal. One criticism is on point: I wish I had solicited more contributions about Japanese Sinologists and Confucians on gender, especially wrt China. They were quite neurotic about Chinese feminism. 111
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 24/03/2026Presenting a paper on the early 20th century Japanese Sinologist and their conceptions of China, at the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University. And what a gorgeous campus it is. 020
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 12/03/2026Not a fan of codifying in-conference conduct down to the last detail like this - nor of bureaucratizing its enforcement. I wonder if this could chill what might otherwise be robust but collegial conversation/disagreement. But if everyone's on board about it... www.asianstudies.org/conference/c...asianstudies.orgAAS Conference Code Of Conduct - Association for Asian StudiesAAS Code of Conduct Ensuring a safe and respectful meeting space has always been a top priority for AAS, and all attendees are expected to follow AAS policies as agreed in your conference registration... 000
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 10/03/202615 years ago today- an apocalyptic photograph of the destruction of Minamisanriku town’s Disaster Prevention Center (with only its aerial visible) and hospital by a 15 meter tsunami. Over 100 people in these 2 buildings died. I took the other photograph of the ruined center in 2012. 010
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 10/03/2026A grandiloquent celebration of the Franco-German Compiègne Forest Armistice in June 1940, written by a now obscure but then prominent Japanese philosopher Takada Shinji/高田真治, in the leading sinology journal Shibun, of which he was editor. Not often you see a Confucian philosopher praising Hitler. 100
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerGeorge Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 02/03/2026Beat 'em to the punch.comicsands.comIllinois Democrat Running For U.S. Congress Goes Viral With Genius Attack Ad—On Herself 612494320
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 26/02/2026Lankov is a highly respected scholar of North Korea. I'd like to see some detailed explanation from the Latvian side about why they've blacklisted him. www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffai...koreatimes.co.krKorean studies professor Andrei Lankov detained in Latvia: report - The Korea TimesAndrei Lankov, a professor specializing in Korean studies and teaching at a South Korean university, has been detained by police in Latvia, where h... 012
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 17/02/2026AOC was asked a complex geopolitical question that she just wasn't prepped to answer on. I hope she does better next time. With enough foresight and conviction, the US left can articulate a progressive civic and cultural diplomacy that helps legitimate Taiwan's place in the world. 010
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerShaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 13/02/2026Oh, I do believe there are racists in the LDP - it's vast and has factions across the spectrum - but it also has a stake in what W F Buckley would've called "keeping out the kooks." Even Taro Aso was doing that recently, defending Eri Arfiya against loony accusations that she is "pro-China." 111
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 13/02/2026My and Joseph Yi’s article for @thehill.com on the pragmatic, incrementalist immigration policy of Japan’s LDP government, which draws a line against anti-foreigner bigotry and paranoia. What’s left of sane conservatism in the US and South Korea can take note. thehill.com/opinion/immi... 020
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerBrian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · 10/02/2026This is rather concerning that this took place during Chinese drills www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/... 1125
Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 09/02/2026In hindsight, the opposition party representatives who denounced PM Takaichi's November 7 remarks on a "Taiwan Contingency" and demanded their retraction badly misjudged Japanese public sentiment. Their demands were also broadcast by CCP propaganda. english.news.cn/asiapacific/... 030
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerSense Hofstede @sensehofstede.nl · 27/01/2026Opposition blocks special defence budget review for the 10th time–TaipeiTimes: ‘Yesterday, sources told the Liberty Times on condition of anonymity that CCP authorities believe that the KMT has fallen short in some areas and needs to demonstrate “substantive action” before the forum can take place.’taipeitimes.comOpposition blocks review for the 10th time - Taipei TimesBringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan 013
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerBadiucao巴丢草 @badiucao.bsky.social · 25/01/20261. Woke up early again to my feed flooded with videos of murders by America's ICE. It seems the U.S. justice system has completely granted impunity to ICE's atrocities—the federal government endorses it right away, and victims are smeared as domestic terrorists and assassins. 1298
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerPhillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 20/01/2026Trump sent out a batsh!t crazy letter yesterday and people once again fell for it. The real story is not the letter, its just another tactic to get what he wants. It shows how he despises Europe and is helping Putin. Yet people comfort themselves by mocking him. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...open.substack.comPeople Are Still Not Getting Trump RightHis Letter Was Not And Is Not The Story 29474203
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerRoy Ngerng 鄞義林 @royngerng.bsky.social · 13/12/2025I spoke to TaiwanPlus about why Taiwan's income inequality is high, its impact on society & politics & the need to raise minimum wage faster—because of the risk that disenfranchisement among a segment of voters can lead to distrust with government & weaken Taiwan's defense. youtu.be/zadDKg2KUlY?...youtu.beAnalysis: Taiwan’s Top 10% Earn Nearly 50% of Income, Hold 60% of Wealth|TaiwanPlus NewsYouTube video by TaiwanPlus News 065
Reposted by Shaun O'DwyerMark Harrison @mhar4.bsky.social · 08/12/2025As Beijing continues military threats and political warfare against Taiwan, PRC Ambassador Xiao Qian warns Australia about "appeasement" of Japan, following PM Takaichi's comments that a PRC war against the Taiwanese would threaten Japan's security. 02015